1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a drive for a track-laying vehicle having a drive shaft in connection with an electrical machine which can be operated as a generator and an electric motor and which can be connected to an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hybrid drives are widely known as drives for passenger vehicles. Hybrid drive vehicles with electric motor drives have been developed as a result of the search for fuel-saving possibilities. The electric current for the drive is supplied by a generator, which is driven by an internal combustion engine. Design concepts are known in which all of the mechanical energy of the internal combustion engine is transformed to electrical energy and then transformed back to mechanical kinetic energy by an electric motor. Other design concepts use a portion of the mechanical energy of the internal combustion engine directly for driving the vehicle and transform the remaining portion to electrical energy. The electrical energy can be used for drive purposes via an electric motor or can be stored in a battery. The vehicle can then draw drive power for the electric drive motor from the battery independently of the internal combustion engine.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,591 describes an electromechanical power plant for a full-track vehicle. The power of an internal combustion engine is transformed to electrical energy by a generator and then used again as mechanical drive power via electric motors. To this end, an electric drive motor is provided, which drives a central shaft, which is connected to each of the two track drive gears by a differential gear system. An electric steering motor is provided to steer the track-laying vehicle. This motor has a zero shaft, which engages the differential gear systems from the opposite direction.